In the welding industry, a tremendous number of robotic welding stations are each operable to draw welding wire from a package to provide a continuous supply of wire to perform successive welding operations. The advent of this mass use of electric welding wire has created a need for large packages for containing and dispensing large quantities of welding wire. A common package is a drum where looped or coiled welding wire is deposited in the drum as a wire stack, or body, of wire having a top surface with an outer cylindrical surface against the drum and an inner cylindrical surface defining a central bore. The central bore is often occupied by a cardboard cylindrical core as shown in Cooper U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,934. It is common practice for the drum to have an upper retainer ring that is used in transportation to stabilize the body of welding wire as it settles. This ring, as is shown in Cooper, remains on the top of the welding wire to push downward by its weight so the wire can be pulled from the body of wire between the core and the ring. In addition, a hold-down mechanism can be utilized to increase the downward force. As can be appreciated, large welding wire packages are heavy and require the use of lifts and other material transport devices to move the packages. As can also be appreciated, the wire packages may be moved several times before the wire is consumed. This can include several moves between the wire manufacturer and the end user and even several moves once the package reaches the end user. Therefore, it is advantageous to include a mechanism on the packaging to facilitate the use of lifting equipment to move the packaging.
Some prior art packages include handles on their outer surfaces to help grasp the container. However, handles provide little benefit for larger wire packages.
Other prior art welding wire packages include a built in packing skid or pallet to allow a fork lift to move the wire packaging. As can be appreciated, the packing skid which is heavy and bulky, and often expensive, must be disposed of once the welding wire is consumed. In view of the high volumes of welding wire used during many welding operations, especially robotic welding operations, there is a need for a wire package that is easily and economically disposable.
In order to overcome the shortcomings of packing skids, others have utilized lifting straps to lift the heavy wire packages. These lifting straps have loops on either end and the straps extend into the packaging and wrap around the base of the wire coil. The loops are utilized to attach the packaging to a lifting device. However, if only one loop is pulled, the strap can be pulled from the packaging. As can be appreciated, once the strap has been pulled from the packaging, it is difficult, if not impossible, to utilize the strap to lift the welding wire package. Further, if the strap is securely affixed to the packaging, such as by staples, it is difficult to separate the strap from the packaging after the wire is consumed. As can be appreciated, in order to recycle the packing materials, it is advantageous to be able to easily separate unlike materials, such as separating paper products of the package from the materials used to make the strap.